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Winter Solstice 2010

As we draw our awareness to the coming winter solstice, we find ourselves in tune with an ancient earth rhythm, marching in time to the beat of ancestral drums. I make a point of gathering with friends at these cyclic annual checkpoints, sharing thoughts about what has passed and expressing intention about what is to come.

If you haven't been to a solstice gathering, I encourage you to create your own. It doesn't have to be elaborate or fancy. Just get some friends together, share some great food, light some candles, and talk about what the year has brought you, and what you hope to create or change in the next one.

Steven's latest work has given us a fresh perspective by pointing out the link between the moon's rhythms and the annual cycles of the solstices and equinoxes.

Originally appeared in The Mountain Astrologer magazine, June 2010. Reprinted with permission.

The familiar circle of twelve signs is a useful fiction. Like time, space, gender and money, it helps us organize our particular, parochial sense of reality. We watch our transits or progressions as they speed or plod along this imaginary line in the sky that we call the ecliptic, as if it were a narrow highway with hard curbs in the vastness of starry space. In our ephemerides, for example, we see Mercury zipping merrily along, 1° Capricorn, then 2° then 3˜. We see Pluto passing the same mileposts—little knowing that Pluto might actually lie thirty degrees from Mercury, way above or below it in the sky, even though we say they are “in conjunction.” In actuality, the only moving astrological point that sticks exactly to the ecliptic is the Sun. Its path, in fact, is what defines the term. Everything else follows it only approximately.

Ever wonder why we don’t have a total solar eclipse every month? Sure enough, there on your computer screen you plainly see the transiting Sun and the transiting Moon aligned in 15° 24'—but no total eclipse of the Sun. The reason is that the Moon is usually a little above the Sun or a little below it. They are “conjunct,” but only in the context of our imaginary celestial railroad track, the zodiac. They are lined up in the two-dimensional framework of the ecliptic, but not in the three dimensional framework of the heavens as they actually meet our eyes. (1)

With so many different kinds of astrological software in use, the simplest suggestion is to just go to the “Help” files in the program you use and look up “Declination.” There you will see how to display it for any chart you calculate. Declination will be given as either North or South, sometimes shown as a + or - . If the value exceeds 23°28', it is Out of Bounds. This will work for both a natal chart or a progressed one.

Using Solar Fire

Out of Bounds Moon

Calculate or open a chart. Click on “Reports” in the top line. Click on “Current Chart.” A window opens titled “Chart Reports & Tabulations.” Under “Chart Points,” you will see a column labeled “Decl.” That is declination. Check to see if the Moon’s value is 23°28' or greater. If so, it is Out of Bounds. Again, this will work for both a natal or progressed charts.

Progressed Moon Declination Cycle

To watch for the Moon progressing Out of Bounds over longer time-scales, open the natal chart, then click on “Dynamic” on the top line. Click on “Graphic Ephemeris.” Open “Saved Selections,” scroll down and click on “Declination of Moon (one year).” Under “Period of Report,” click the “Years” button (unless you want to zoom in on a specific period of your life).

In this video interview, Steven addresses the question of how to best manage Mars or Aries energy in a “high expression” way and also with spiritual integrity. To learn more about the Mars archetype, check out Mars: Hunter or Prey in our audio download store.